Suns and nights
by Nebelblau
Summary: After being destroyed thrice, the undead king rose again. Yet, his rebirth came with a little, unexpected twist. The guardians had made him a partner digimon, tying his destiny to a single human child.
1. A brave new world

At first there was an digi-egg.

It didn't manifest itself in the village of beginnings like all the other eggs. It suddenly appeared inside an abandoned castle, inside the library, right on top of a cushion chair.

It just laid there, held in position by an old pillow, unnoticed and lonely. The mansion was empty and devoid of all life.

The world around it was obvious to the single egg and the eternal darkness sleeping inside, brooding endlessly.

The egg hatched after a few weeks and a round and squishy being took its place. To every bystander he would have looked like every other baby digimon, cute and harmless. It was even smaller than the pillow he still leaned on. He was a Poyomon, the simplest of all baby digimon, yet his origins were anything but humble.

Memories of his former life flooded his mind, clear as day, starting from his birth a long time ago, leading to his raise for power, his prime, his downfall and being scattered thrice. The madness, the pain, the darkness, were as fresh as ever.

His body was reduced to a mere shell if his former self, yet his mind was perfectly clear. He might have the body of a child, but he had the mind of an adult, a hardened veteran.

Yet, in between all those old memories and his evil determination was a new feeling, perhaps a seed. A small, light seed.

This seed contained his future and his purpose, it felt like a completely foreign object and yet it felt perfectly natural.

It was a feeling every digimon had heard of, a purpose many wished to have but few were ever granted their wish.

It dawned him.

He had a partner.

He was a partner.

A truly unexpected turn of events as his life was now tied to a single human. It has was a child, he instinctually knew this, a fragile child.

The king of darkness let himself sink even further into the pillow. Not only was the life of partner digimon tied to their human counterpart, their power was as well. The bright side however was that the symbiosis granted the digimon unbelievable powers, the very same powers that killed him thrice. They were a curse and a gift.

He smiled.

It wasn't the cute kind of smile all Poyomon had on their face constantly, it was a cruel one that exposed a pair of tiny fangs, the only thing left of his former body.

He was hungry.

He hadn't eaten in a very long time.

As fragile as children were, they were easy to manipulate, easy to form.

He was patient.

He was centuries old.

He would reveal himself as soon as possible to said child and then raise his human into a loyal servant, his personal right hand man.

His gift shall be his enemies' curse.

He looked around and blinked. His mansion had become dusty, his servants had all left for the human world and died there. He should have left a few Bakemon for cleaning duty, albeit without the threat of a horde of angry bats, most Bakemon weren't very dutiful when it came down to hygiene.

He hopped from the chair, creating a small cloud of dust as he hit the ground. Walking through the castle without feet while being roughly around the size of a football was an experience Poyomon wouldn't want to repeat. Especially with the dust layer that covered the entire ground like an extra carpet. Once he stepped out of the gate, his entire body resembled a dust bunny. He shook himself and most fell off.

His instinct told him he should go to the human world. It also told him that the gate in the stone room no longer existed.

Nowadays, there were multiple gates to the human world, he just had to search for the next city as many digimon moved near the gates. Human guests meant trade and jobs, which led to cities growing around the gates. Digimon cities weren't different from human ones in that regard.

It was a long march, especially for a small Poyomon like him. It was humiliating. Lucky for him, the area was now clear of pesky virus types that would have loved to play soccer with a lonely baby digimon. The irony of the situation was not escaping him.

After five hours he decided to take a rest. He was roughly in the middle of the forest that surrounded his castle. Out of habit, he sat down on a root under the shadow of a tall tree. The dark king had forgotten what wandering under bright sunlight for hours was like. Technically, it didn't hurt him anymore but the phantom pain still felt real.

He was also thirsty. He had to find a river or even a water well soon or else he would turn back into an egg again. He blamed his thirst on the fact that he didn't notice the other digimon until it hovered right above him.

"My, my. What in the four guardians name are doing here, little guy? Are you lost?"

It was Angemon. He was hovering slightly above the ground and looked down on him with a frown on his face. He wasn't sure if it was the very same digimon that belonged to the chosen children but it was a holy digimon nevertheless. For the first time on this day, the dark king appreciated his baby form that made him completely harmless.

"No", he answered.

"Don't you know how dangerous it is for a small child to be out in the woods alone? How did end up here anyways? The village of beginnings is miles away."

Poyomon stared at him, trying to read the part of his face that wasn't hidden behind a metal helmet. He knew that the angel could sense lies. He decided to stay vague and keep a low profile.

"I'm searching for my partner."

The dark king cringed when he noticed how incredibly high-pitched his voice was. Out of habit he had expected his voice to sound deep and sombre and not like he was on helium.

The angel's face light up.

"I see, I shall bring you to bring you to the nearest gate then."

The angel had the decency to pick him up and carry him to the nearest clean river first. There he slowly lowered him over the water so he could drink because his body would have been carried away by the stream otherwise. Yet again, it was humiliating but the dark king knew better to complain.

Poyomon knew he didn't like the city he was being brought to the second they flew over it. He could hear it first, the sound of hammers and heavy machines. He was old fashioned, he had never been fond of machines and heavy gears, despite technically being a program himself.

Etemon's constant concerts, loud enough to make the entire glassware inside his castle vibrate in agony, did the rest to seal his distaste in technology.

Most of the city was currently under construction. There were a few old houses in the middle, most likely they had belonged to the original village that had happened to be nearby the gate.

Angemon dropped him nearby an old house that had been turned into a care home for baby digimon, "kindergarten" was written in colorful letters on a sign.

"Kids' garden? I don't evolve into Tanemon...", Poyomon stated dryly.

Angemon laughed.

"Oh dear, that's a concept borrowed from the human world. Digimon graduate once they hit their Child or Rookie level, the name is a little bit misleading."

The house belonged to a Jijimon and Babamon couple, potent mega level digimon despite their frail appearance.

Poyomon sighed loudly when Babamon dubbed him "cute little marshmallow" and ended up with a disapproving scowl on his face for the rest of the day. And the day after.

After one week of watching the newest addition with the dark look on his face, Babamon stroke his beard while musing: "This one will definitely evolve into a virus type. Hmm..."

"Don't be like that old man, he's a partner digimon", Babamon intervened. "He's going to be fine, just give him some time to adapt."

While he didn't hear their conversation, Poyomon could guess from their behaviour, that the old couple noticed his difference from the others. He only gave short answers when being talked to and never started a conversation on his own but his advanced manner of speech showed themselves nevertheless. He could read despite stating he had no memories of previous lives and knew every inch of geography in the digital world and half of the human world.

The most important factor however was, that he never played with the other digimon, preferring to parade around like a king with an attitude that made even digimon one level above him move away whenever they came close to him.

Poyomon sighed.

For the sake of hiding his identity, he decided to bite the bullet and play pretend. Pretend he was nothing but a small child before they decided to call some chosen children on him.

Poyomon found himself in front of a very young Punimon, practicing Digimoji together. Of course only Punimon practiced, constantly confusing similar looking letters. His patience was wearing thin but every time he was about to shout and yell, Babamon shot him a warning glance.

"Everybody has his own pace, you know", she stated during one of Punimon's frequent breaks. "You have to be more considerate of others, not everybody can be a prodigy."

By sunset, Punimon finally managed to spell his own name correctly, Babamon proudly petted its head and shoved a piece of candy into its mouth.

"You learned a lot today, little one."

Punimon produced some bubbles in response, out of embarrassment or happiness, Poyomon could not tell.

Then, Babamon turned around, a second piece of candy in her hand. It was shoved into Poyomon's mouth before he had the chance to flee.

"You learned a lot, too. Today is the first time you helped others on your own."

At least, she didn't give me a marshmallow was the only thought that crossed Poyomon's mind.

Finally, after yet another week, Poyomon finally evolved into Tokomon, a Tokomon with very sharp and long teeth. He was finally allowed to use the training grounds, winning every fight through sheer force. When Jijimon asked him to train the others, he turned the training ground into a boot camp, shouting orders left and right. It was rumored he was the only Tokomon who did not just show his sharp teeth but actually used them without a warning. On one hand, the elderly couple could only shake their heads in despair but on the other hand, three more digimon than average managed to digivolve with his rigid methods, making the house roomier than ever.

After a few weeks, Tokomon himself finally reached the next level.

Jijimon hit Babamon with his elbow and a short "told ya" when he looked into the yellow eyes of a DemiDevimon hovering in the air. The bat digimon just flew off without as much as a good bye, right into the closest forest.

There the waiting began.

* * *

Welcome to my newest story.

I wondered what would happen if the evil digimon from adventure got reborn as eggs and this kinda escalated into the very story you're just reading, dear viewer. I went with Myotismon because he is my favorite and he had been the most troublesome one. This story takes place in between 02 and tri.


	2. Silent night

He was not allowed at the computer without supervision.

He wasn't allowed to even look at the screen with supervision either most of the time. Yet, he felt a sudden nostalgia when passing by it.

He felt like somebody called him, not in the sense of a phone call but more like he was supposed to meet somebody in a crowdy place and that person kept shouting his name.

"Hinata, Hinata!"

It was his father's voice, stern and angry.

"Will you pay attention for once?"

Hinata had been so fascinated by the empty screen that he failed to notice his father stepping into the room. He turned around, faced a serious look and let his head hang down in shame.

"Sorry", he mumbled, barely audible.

His father proceeded to lecture him for a good five minutes. He often did that.

After the scolding, his father told him that he wouldn't return from work until 10 o'clock in the evening but expected him to be in bed by half past eight nevertheless. Television and the computer were off limits, same as play dates with the neighbour's kids.

"Bye, father", Hinata, still on the same spot, shouted after him but the only answer was the sound of the door closing. The clock of the microwave displayed 16:46, next to it was a note with instructions for his dinner.

Hinata went to his room, still thinking about the strange feeling he had earlier. He climbed on the chair in front of his table and placed his homework in front of him. He started with history, sorting dates to the corresponding emperors. His mind drifted off while doing so, imagining himself walking through old castles and ancient cities. He spent more time daydreaming than working, thus the sunset flooded his entire room orange by the time he had finished his work.

He quickly worked through his math assignment, not double checking his solutions. Now, only his threaded writing assignment was missing.

Hinata groaned. He loathed Kanji. He was glad he was allowed to write his own name in the less complicated Hiragana system most of the time due to the numerous readings the Kanji had.

By the time he had completed his homework he had to turn on the lights. It was only now, that he noticed a small, unfamiliar device laying one the edge of his table. It was small, white, had a screen and a few buttons. It looked like the pedometer his teacher showed them in sports class. He took it, hoping to find a name tag on it. Maybe his brother owned one and he tended to put a tag on everything he owned.

The clock on the device read 20:13, other than that there wasn't anything written on the it.

A jolt went trough his body when he read the time and he pushed the device into the pocket of his pants. He quickly warmed up his dinner, discharging the instructions completely and selecting the highest temperature and 2 minutes less than intended. He had figured out that he liked the rice better like that anyway weeks ago.

After the last bite, he cleaned the plate and brushed his teeth in the bath room. Only after he stepped back into the living room, he could see that the computer was on, illuminating the dark room in a blue light. His eyes went wide.

"No way..."

He raced towards the screen, hoping the computer was just updating and he didn't have to explain his father that he did not brake any rules.

There was no update.

The screen was displaying various zeros and ones that kept flickering, like a swarm of flies.

Suddenly the screen became even more corrupted and images of strange forests and weird monsters would pop up for a few seconds. He had seem some of those monsters before but he could not recall when.

"Hinata..."

He could feel somebody calling his name, even though he couldn't hear anybody. The device in his pocket started to glow. He pulled it out and held it with both hands like a little bird. It was warm, not in a burning but in a comforting sense. It felt like a beating heart, in sync with his own heart beat.

"Hinata..?"

For moment, he felt completely free, free of all worries. He felt like a bird, soaring through the blue sky.

"I'm here", Hinata answered and the light consumed him.

When Hinata opened his eyes he was laying on his back, surrounded by grass, looking right into a full moon. It was a very silent night, only some faint rustling could be heard far, far away. The air he breath was clear and smelled of forest.

"There you are, finally."

Hinata blinked in surprise. A ball with feet and wings jumped on his belly, studying him with yellow, glowing eyes.

Hinata instinctively jumped a few steppes backwards. The round bat flew of and landed on his head instead.

"What or who are you!?", he yelped in shock. The bat huffed in annoyance and flew of his head. Back on the ground it performed a small bow. Despite his shape, there was a certain elegance in his movements.

"I'm known as DemiDevimon, pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm a digimon, destined to become your partner and guide, in good and in bad times."

Then he flew close to the boy's face.

"Your name is Hinata, right?"

"How do you-"

"As I said before, I'm your partner", DemiDevimon cut him off. "So naturally, I know your name. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask."

Hinata still looked at him bewildered and with confusion written all over his face. It took him a while to digest the information he was just given.

"Where are we?"

"In the digital world, short Digi-World. To answer your next question, yes, you can return to your own world whenever you please through special gates as long as you carry your digivice with you."

Hinata eyed the digivice in his hand with curiosity. It no longer glowed. He could barely make out the time, 20:38.

"I should be in bed by now, you know."

DemiDevimon gave him a puzzled look.

"The night is still young."

Now, Hinata was the one who huffed.

"I really need to get home right now or else father is gonna yell my ears off."

"A strict type, I see. The gate you fell through is still open so you're in luck. Just keep your digivice in your hand like this and order the gate to open."

Hinata did as he was told, clutching the device tightly. He could feel his entire body being sucked away be a strange force. The light was blinding and he found himself laying on a cold, hard floor once it faded away.

He rolled on his stomach and stood up and for a moment he thought his encounter with DemiDevimon was just a dream, that he had just fallen asleep for a few minutes. Then, he heard a familiar voice.

"That worked far better than anticipated."

On the top of the window sill, illuminated by the street light on the outside, sat DemiDevimon, grinning and displaying a set of sharp teeth. Hinata got a better look at his partner now. The bat was in a dark shade of blue and had a mask with white stitches on his face. He looked a little bit like an old baseball, a contrast to his rather educated speech.

"You followed me."

"Indeed."

"Why?"

Demidevimon flew towards him and sat down on the computer chair.

"Because we're partners and I felt like having you leave with only sparse information and half-truths in your mind would be rather inconvenient for both of us. Alas, where's this room of yours?"

The two of them headed to Hinata's bedroom with DemiDevimon insisting the darkness didn't bother him the slightest. In there, the boy sat down on his bed as DemiDevimon hanged upside down from the curtain rail.

"The digital world is a place you humans call magical, folkloric one could say. Digimons come in all shapes and forms, they can change their form in a process called digivolution. Each mon has an assigned level, newborns are just babies or in-training until they reach their child or rookie stage. The mega stage is what everyone wishes for but few ever come close to."

Hinata, listening closely to this point, asked the unavoidable question: "What's your level?"

"Rookie", was the short, deadpan answer and Hinata started to giggle loudly.

"You're just a child yourself? Man, you really talk like an old man. You almost got me."

"Ts, stop laughing. Me, the greatest of all digimon, reached this stage within weeks of my "birth", therefore-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as Hinata's giggling evolved into loud laughter.

"You're only a few weeks old? A little wee baby, DemiDevimon is a baby!", he teased in a singsong voice.

Said digimon almost lost his balance before he could regain his composure

"Unlike you, of course, ts. I'm close to an adult, young man."

Once the boy stopped laughing, he flew on his stomach, landing a bit more harshly than necessary.

"Demidevimon, I wonder..."

"What are you wondering about?"

"Are you going to wear the veil?"

"A veil, which veil?", DemiDevimon asked baffled.

"For the marriage because I'm sure not wearing one."

"Marriage?!"

His voice gained an extra octave.

"You told me were partners in good and in bad times, isn't that a wedding vow?", Hinata asked in an innocent voice only a eight year old could muster.

DemiDevimon sucked in his breath and slowly counted to ten. Then he slowly exhaled the air out of his body. Hinata pocked his side twice, asking if he had fallen asleep.

"Thank the guardians, there is no marriage involved. The relationship between human and digimon is platonic one, like a business relationship."

"What's platonic?"

"It means without romance."

"No kisses."

"More or less."

Suddenly Hinata squeaked happily and pulled Demidevimon into a hug.

"So you're gonna be my friend? Awesome!"

Demidevimon tried to wriggle himself out but only when he announced he was about to suffocate, the grip loosened a little.

"Boy, might I ask you one question?"

"Sure."

"Do you dream?"

"Of course I do, every night."

Suddenly, he turned sad when the realisation hit him.

"Please don't tell me you're just a dream, DemiDevimon."

His voice was quiet.

"I am not, I am real", he assured the boy. "I was talking about the other kind of dreams, those about your future, you know. Some kids want to fly into space, others want to became president."

"No, I don't have any of these."

Hinata spoke in a hushed voice.

"No firefighter being everybody's hero, no scientists showered in praise, no director winning prices left and right?", DemiDevimon inquired further.

"No, I can't be any of these."

His voice was now barely audible.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, of course not", DemiDevimon announced, his wide grin shining in the darkness. "I actually like you better this way, not chasing after some fantasies that only disappoint you anyway."

A smile appeared in Hinata's face and he laid down on his bed, crawling under the blanket. He still held DemiDevimon in his arms, placing him next to him on his pillow.

"Hinata means towards the sun", he mused while studying the features of the sleeping child. He hummed in an amused tone.

"Oh, the irony is hilarious. Those guardians really decided to give me a child without dreams."

It'll be easy to lure this specific kid into darkness even without the help of spores. The dark king had feared it would take him years to form his partner the right way but without dreams, this damned light he despised so much, he'd groom Hinata into his personal prince of darkness within months.

With these thoughts in mind, the former Myotismon slowly drifted to sleep himself.


	3. A day's work

The alarm rang at 6:20, a loud shrill sound that almost erupted his delicate eardrums. Thankfully, the child woke up instantly, shutting the noise off right afterwards. Hinata yawned, the motion made DemiDevimon even more tired than he already was. Even in his Rookie stage, he was still a creature of night, having spent every sunny hour resting inside a coffin for centuries.

"What's your plans for the day, child?", he asked in a sleepy voice.  
"Today's Friday, school ends in the afternoon", Hinata answered, not sounding much awake either.  
"You need to bring me food when you come home, child."  
"Why?"  
"I'm afraid, I can't just fly into the nearest restaurant and order some exquisite lunch. Same wine would be nice...", he trailed off.  
Hinata gave him a scolding look.  
"You can't drink wine! You're just a child. Come to think about it, what does a bat like you eat anyway?"  
DemiDevimon took a few seconds to answer. Unlike in the digital world, where no laws existed concerning beverages, the human world had numerous limits for children. He vaguely remembered a distressed Pumpkinmon calling him during an august night a long time ago, complaining they wouldn't sell an ultimate like him alcoholic beverages. In the background, Gostumon had mused about pranks they could pull with the taco sauce they were handed instead. This call had been the reason he ended up following them to Shibuya in the first place.  
Children were notoriously poor, relaying on their parents for a long time. Parents, that should not find out about his existence. As much as he loathed it, for the time being his only option was whatever his child managed to turn up and with.  
"Digimon can consume everything a human does. Just don't expect me to eat anything sticky..."

The boy's morning was usually a lonely one. His father left for work right after his son woke up, leaving him with breakfast, a lunchbox and some money for dinner. Contrary his previous statement, DemiDevimon turned out to be a rather picky eater. His definition of sticky included anything that could potentially be stuck in his teeth as well, thus he refused to eat rice and most vegetables. Thankfully Hinata did not inquire further on how somebody could manage to get a piece of carrot stuck in his teeth after DemiDevimon shot him an angry look.

Once the boy has left himself, DemiDevimon went through the flat, trying to gather as much information as possible about Hinata. He cared very little about his privacy, searching through every paper and photograph he could get his claws on.

He was quite surprised to find out that the family was twice as big as it seemed. The first room he walked in turned out to be the parent's bedroom, one picture of each parent was placed on both sides of the bed. Hinata took a lot more after his mother than after his father. Both had the same facial structure and slightly wavy hair.  
He discovered some empty spots in her wardrobe while he made his way through the cabinet.

There was also a second bedroom obviously belonging to another child. It was bigger than the other too and much tidier. There were the same empty spots in the wardrobe as in the mother's as if the second half of the family went on a voyage alone.  
The photographs in the photo book he found also showed a family of four, rather than just two. The other child seemed to be an older brother albeit DemiDevimon had difficulties determining how much older he actually was. Maybe two or four Yeats were in between them. This child took more after the father, sharing the serious attitude. Overall, the siblings didn't seem to get along very well. Every picture they were on together looked staged. There wasn't some kind of animosity between them however, it just seemed that neither of them knew how to deal with the other.

In the mess that was Hinata's room, DemiDevimon ended up digging up a copy of his school schedule underneath a pile of comic books.  
DemiDevimon cursed under his breath. Why couldn't he ended up in a country with less after-school activities instead? Outside the weekends, there were only one or two hours a day in which he could take the boy to the digital world safely. DemiDevimon doubted that he could gain power in the human world as easily as in his home world. Battles were the fastest option to strengthen the bond between digimon and human, which was currently his only access to his higher forms.

He definitely had been in a much different position the first time he raised into power. He had been groomed by the dark masters themselves. They had picked him up the same way they had chosen Devimon and Etemon. The first had been a corrupted Angemon. Ironically, his original form had been both his greatest fear and final downfall. He had never found out what kind of digimon Etemon had been before his run-in with Apocalymon and frankly he had never had the desire to ask.  
The answer would have came in the form of a two-hour long musical, including an obligatory unnecessary romantic subplot. The couple in question would have been Etemon and his own mirror reflection.

He only vaguely remembered his life before he had turned into Myotismon. Piedmon had thought him every torture method he knew by performing it on the smaller digimon himself.  
The jester had picked up all digimon that showed signs of Apocalymon's influence but none of them survived. None, expect him, of course.  
The moment he had rose as Myotismon had been the moment he had discovered his ability to devour data of digimon. One after another they had been consumed by him and his army of bats.

His situation now was an entirely different one.  
He knew of only one chosen digimon that reached the champion level without the help of a digivice. Ironically, it had been his own torture that caused the digivolution.

Rain began to fall halfway through lunch break. Hinata was currently shuffled in the hallway, hoping the shower would pass in a few minutes. He stood in an empty corner, playing around with his digivice.  
A few red dots had popped up once he entered the building and frequently moved around ever since.  
"Neat toy you've got there!"  
Hinata almost jumped. A boy, two classes above him, loomed above him. Instinctively he pulled the digivice back in his pockets.  
"T-that's not a toy", he proclaimed but the tone of his voice piqued the interest of the older boy even more.  
"Hey, no reason to go all defensive", he said while reaching into his pocket. "I've also got one myself."  
The boy summoned an orange digivice, bigger than Hinata's and with an antenna attached to it.  
"My partner is Koromon. Very pink and a very big mouth but kinda cute. He hopped right out of dad's laptop two weeks ago. My name's Dan by the way."  
He shot him a proud smile.  
"I'm Hinata. My digimon is Demidevimon. He's blue, round and walks around talking like a literature teacher. A teacher with a set of shark teeth. I only met him yesterday."  
The two of them proceeded talking about digimon, their needs and the responsibilities of a chosen for the reminder of the break.  
"Dan, what does Koromon eat?"  
"Ask me what he doesn't eat. Seriously, it took me a while to convince him that dog food is out of limits. Otherwise the diet of the animal your digimon resembles works in most cases."

Friday generally meant curry day for Hinata. He knew they still had enough curry powder and some meat left but the vegetables always needed to be fresh. That was a rule his mother set for the Sato household and the men simply stuck with it.  
"14.000, 15.000 yen..."  
Hinata sighed and closed his briefcase. Hopefully DemiDevimon wasn't as much of a glutton as Koromon was. Apparently, he could devour two full bowls of pasta and still felt hungry afterwards.  
If he remembered the prize correctly, the vegetables cost around 5.000 yen, leaving him with merely 10.000 for DemiDevimon. He had the unpleasant feeling that the little guy would only dine the finest way with the most expensive food. Hinata liked him nevertheless and he didn't want to disappointed his new friend.  
"Depending on the species, a bat's diet consists of insects or fruits", he muttered a quote from an article he had been reading in the school library earlier.  
Hopefully, his bat belonged to the second group.

Hinata dashed out of the store once the groceries were paid with only a short thank you towards the cashier who just watched him bewildered. He almost ran into somebody's bike but didn't care much about it. Normally he took his time walking home after school as nobody waited for him but now, everything was different.  
"I'm back", he shouted in a happy voice as he unlocked the door.  
Nobody answered him.  
He let the door fall in silently.

"Hey, DemiDevimon? "  
Again, no answer.

Only after he opened the door to his own room, he found his digimon. He was stretched out on his pillow without moving the slightest. Finally, he greeted him in a low voice.  
"Are you alone? Is any of your parents nearby?"  
Hinata was confused.  
"Err, no."  
DemiDevimon jumped on his feet.  
"Brilliant, I can stop pretending to be a stuffed toy then." He underlined his statement by stretching out his stiff wings.  
"I am going to be honest with you, us digimon don't have the best reputation among humans. We look like demons to them and parents are quick to throw out any "monster" potentially harming their child without thinking twice about it."  
"Oh, I see", Hinata said while putting his books out of his backpack. "It's because some digimon are wrecking havoc for some years, right? There was this gigantic scorpion in Tokyo Bay last year but some white dragon chased it off. I know that from Dan, he also has a digimon."  
DemiDevimon zoned out after the boy mentioned a dragon. The chosen nuisances had dragons among their digimon but none of them was white. This meant that at least one of them had managed to reach an even higher level yet again.

"The dragon was the good guy, right? Dan told me that us chosen are there to fight away the bad Mon."  
"Good or bad is all just a matter of your point of view", DemiDevimon stated nonchalantly. "You shouldn't label one side as wrong before you saw both sides of the coin."  
Hinata gave him a curious and questioning look. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
"You only know what Dan told you about the scorpion digimon who probably didn't witness the event either. It's true that chosen children have to fight digimon that disturb the balance between both worlds but children tend to mindlessly call innocent digimon evil just so they can play hero."  
"So you want me to think twice about everything somebody tells me?"  
DemiDevimon was slightly taken aback.  
"Don't you usually do that?"  
Hinata shook his head.  
"Father always tells me I shouldn't think so much and just do what I'm being told."

Much to the boy's delight, Demidevimon didn't refuse the selection of fruits he was offered. He watched him with interest as he plucked some single grapes off with his wings before eating them.  
The bat stopped when he noticed he was being watched and gave him an irritated look.  
"Would you like some yourself?"  
"Maybe one or two, father is making curry when he comes home."  
"Don't mind my curiosity, kid, but how comes you're only living with your father? The flat is a little too big for two."  
Hinata suddenly became flustered. He glanced sideways and fidgeted with his fingers.  
"It's not like that. Mom is living here, too. And Akio, technically."  
Demidevimon looked him deep into the eyes, spotting a well hidden and familiar darkness.  
"Tell me more about them", he ordered him in calmly. He knew he had the boy on a bait.

Hinata took a deep breath and let himself fall back into his wooden chair.  
"They're at our grandparents' place, the air is much better there. I'm stuck here with father, technically." The forced happiness of the boy began to crumble.  
"Practically he's always at work, he has to earn money, I get it, but he always either yells at me or ignores me when he's home. He's leaving me all alone and I hate it."  
The silence lasted for a minute.  
"My deepest condolences, boy," Demidevimon suddenly stated. "I can promise, you'll never be lonely again in the digital world."  
A weak smile formed itself on the boy's face, a real one.  
"Yeah, everything is all right now."  
A small light shined deep inside his eyes.  
"I'm never gonna be alone again, because I've got you, Demidevimon. You'll never leave me."  
The smile evolved into a grin.


	4. Twilight and dawn Part I

**Author's notes:**

First of all, I want to thank the kind Anon for the great review. It was a great motivation boost for me. As for the story, the plot finally thickens. It's time for our first real trip to the digital world.

* * *

 _Hinata once saw a dragon._

 _Actually it was a pair of dragons. They flew right over Tokyo with their black leathery wings. He could see them far away as there were no clouds over Shinokawa on that day. They had shiny red eyes and roared loudly. They made him shudder in fear on one hand but on the other hand they also fascinated him. Deep inside, he had always known that the fairy tale beasts were real._

 _The only thing that surprised him was their foreign look. They were not long and thin like normal asian dragons but buff and stocky like western ones._

 _Maybe even dragons take holiday trips to other countries once in a while._

 _"That was just a small airplane", his mother told him when he told her about them the next morning. "The roar was just a modified bike."_

 _"But mom, they were carrying a carriage, like in those old movies."_

 _His mother shook her head and laughed it off._

 _"It was just a dream, Hinata."_

 _Then she patted his head._

 _"You know, I heard the dragons as well", Akio suddenly whispered to him later that day, while they brushed their teeth. "I looked at the street first, so I didn't see them but I can also say that there definitely wasn't any bike on the street either."_

 _"Fo' 'eal?", Hinata asked with his toothbrush still in his mouth._

 _"Yes, without a doubt and don't talk with a full mouth."_

 _"What do dragons want in Tokyo, there aren't any princesses to kidnap."_

 _"Or to eat", his older brother added._

 _"Yikes, don't say that."_

 _"Well with a roar like that, I doubt they're vegetarians", Akio teased him back._

A howling wind blew snowflakes over glaciers, while an aurora borealis painted the night sky green.

A modern city that looked like it sprung straight out of a steam punk novel hovered over the ground.

A white beach was filled with exotic palm trees, small waves from a clear, blue ocean crashed into the white sand.

A deep jungle was illuminated with colourful plants and had a small path that wanted to be explored.

All of this places held their own secrets, they were all part of the digi world.

All of this places also left Hinata staring at the screen in awe.

For Demidevimon, the places didn't feel particularly special. He had visited similar locations before, multiple times in the hundreds of years he lived. They had lost their charm a long time ago. Except for the beach, this always-sunny place had never triggered any positive feelings inside his cold heart to begin with.

"I guess it's futile to inquire which gate you're going to pick, child."

Said kid finally snapped out of his stupor when he heard his partner's voice.

"Can we at least visit two in one go, please?", Hinata begged with an especially strong emphasis on please.

"No", came the immediate and slightly sharp answer. Hinata's shoulders sank. Demidevimon sighed. He had the dreading feeling that this kind of discussion would repeat itself over and over.

"Kid, we don't have enough time for two visits today and if you don't hurry up I might have to cancel our visit all together."

"Okay..."

The boy still pouted but he seemed to understand as he straightened himself up. DemiDevimon silently congratulated himself on reading every book on children's psychology he could get his hands on in preparation for his fight against certain chosen nuisances. His efforts had been fruitless until now.

"I still can't decide..."

Maybe his efforts continued being fruitless.

"Try to eliminate a few choices at least. First, do you have winter clothes on hand?"

"No, I dunno where Mom put them."

"Only three to go."

"I dunno where she put my swimming trunks either."

DemiDevimon silently cheered. Albeit not very subtly as Hinata remarked, apparently he looked like he just drew the big price from a raffle.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised you don't like water. You don't look like you can swim very well", he continued further.

"Ts, I can swim but I wouldn't advise going for a swim in the digi-ocean nevertheless because you don't notice a Megaseadramon until it swallows you as a whole."

"Is it a champion?"

"Worse, an ultimate."

After another five minutes of arguing and some nudging on DemiDevimon's side ("the mechanical city is constantly under construction"), Hinata picked the gate that lead to the jungle. Then, the packing began. The boy managed to stuff his lunch box, his camera plus extra batteries, some comic books and two water bottles into his small backpack.

"Hey, we are going to a rain forest, right?"

"I assume so."

To his digimon's shock and disgust, Hinata ran back to his room only to return with a bright yellow raincoat.

"I remembered where mum put it this time", he announced proudly while weaving it in front of him. DemiDevimon wished he didn't remember. The shade remained him of a field full of sunflowers in full bloom. He loathed both, sun and flowers. Today might have been the first time in his very long live he wished for sunny weather in the digi world.

Hinata held his digivice tightly and took a deep breath. He was nervous and excited.

"Digi-portal, open!", he proclaimed with a surprisingly steady voice.

The bright, blinding light reappeared from the screen and consumed the two of them. Hinata could see hundreds of lights flickering around him before he found himself landing right on the ground rather harshly.

"Remember to land on your feet next time, boy", his digimon stated dryly while hovering above him.

"You can fly, that's unfair", said boy answered even drier.

Once he pushed himself up, Hinata could lay his eyes on the world of wonders in front of him. It was even more fascinating and beautiful than the little glimpse he saw on the computer screen.

A humid heath was in the air and he could taste the smells of the forest plants. They smelled similar to the jungle section of a zoo he had once visited and yet they were completely foreign.

The plant's look had the same familiar unfamiliarity. The shapes and colours were the same as in the real world but they were swapped in many places. The petals were green and the grass had a pinkish hue. Suddenly, he could hear a cry in the sky and when he looked up, he could see a huge orange bird flying over the trees.

"That's Birdramon, it's only a champion", DemiDevimon announced.

"There a lot of Dramons", Hinata answered with his eyes still focused on the bird.

"Yes, there a quite a few indeed. I see you're already learning the right nomenclature."

Rather than following the path straight into the forest, Hinata stopped every five steps whenever he found something new and interesting. DemiDevimon barely managed to shove him away from poisonous pollen by grabbing him by his backpack.

"You know, I saw a dragon once", Hinata suddenly started a conversation.

"Of course you did, human culture is full of them."

"No, I saw a real dragon, in Tokyo, four years ago. Maybe it was one of those Dramons."

DemiDevimon froze mid air. Could it be that this child had been among those he took hostage in search for the eight child? He knew that creating a narrative that portrayed his manoeuvre in a positive light would be rather difficult if the child indeed witnessed his true nature first hand. The Agumon line could be confused with dragons by any human who didn't know better and another child actually had a Birdramon. On the other hand, the child has never commented on his own appearance before.

"Four years ago you say? It must have been scary for such a young child to witness an bright orange dragon breaking loose in Odaiba."

"Huh?!"

Hinata blinked in surprise.

"Orange? Odaiba? My dragon was black and I've never been in Odaiba until last summer."

DemiDevimon almost bit his own tongue but managed to hold himself together. In the meanwhile Hinata finally counted two and two together.

"Wait a sec, are you trying to tell me that evil digimon were behind the attack on the TV station?"

DemiDevimon coughed.

"I would call them confused digimon rather than evil. The station ended up getting caught in the fire of particularly huge rampaging digimon."

Hinata looked at DemiDevimon, scanned his size and reminisced about the size of the orange bird. He had previously thought that Dan had been joking when he said the digimon last year had been big enough to fill the width of a river.

"How big is huge for a digimon?"

"Every form and shape is within the possibilities, there is no size limit."

Hinata gulped hard and glanced at the path in front of them. Suddenly, this fantasy world sounded far less wonderful.

The pair walked until they reached a small river, there Hinata called for a break. He unpacked the lunch and cut one apple in little pieces for DemiDevimon while keeping the other for himself. As they sat there together, Hinata's nervousness from earlier slowly faded away. He decided to pick up some of his comics while DemiDevimon scouted the area from above.

He was half through his first issue when DemiDevimon suddenly landed next to him, eying it with suspicion.

"Wanna read it, too?", Hinata offered him the comic happily.

"I decline, an oil painting or classic dramas would please me more. I prefer realism."

Hinata pouted.

"Just give it a try, you'll like it. I picked Batman."

His partner raised an eyebrow.

"He's the good guy who fights against Joker, an crazy clown."

"A bat against a clown you say, who wins?"

"The bat, of course."

The scowl disappeared from DemiDevimon's face. "Well, maybe this comic has far more realism that I anticipated", he stated while imagining himself to beating up Piedmon.

All of them sudden the leaves were rustling and voices drawing closer could be heard. Two plant digimon, a Palmon and an Alraumon dashed through the leaves next to them, stopping abruptly when they spotted the other duo.

"It's a humon, we're in luck."

"It's human, not humon."

"Greetings as well", DemiDevimon answered angrily since he had been left out and the two digimon ducked away from his glance.

"What's the matter?", Hinata asked.

Palmon took a few breaths, still being exhausted from running, before answering.

"Two Gazimon are terrorizing everybody that crosses their path."

"We tried to fight them but lost", Alraumon continued.

"Could you try to stop yourself in our name?", both demanded unisons.

Hinata turned to DemiDevimon who just nodded at him, signifying that he could take out two Gazimon easily.

"Sure."

Then he proceeded to put everything back into his backpack before setting of. The two plant digimon thanked them profoundly, listing all of the mischief the two virus types caused in the process.

"Don't cause to much ruckus", Palmon yelled after the two of them before they were out of hearing range.

"Teach them a lesson but hurry up", Alraumon added but wasn't heard anymore.

Searching for the two troublemakers wasn't a difficult task, they just had to follow the path of broken branches. Soon, they could hear the loud and cruel laughter of the culprits and eventually spotted them on a meadow. DemiDevimon instructed Hinata to hide behind the nearest bush and stay back.

Still hidden inside the forest, DemiDevimon flew atop a high branch and summoned his darts. He patiently waited until both Gazimon turned their backs towards him.

"Demi Darts!"

The needle hit Gazimon right in between the shoulder plates. He let out a loud, pained scream before collapsing to the ground, right in front of his shocked partner in crime. The second one looked around frantically.

"You damned-"

DemiDevimon shot into the air and flew a few circles over Gazimon's head and came to the ground a few meters away.

"Try to catch me if you can", he further taunted the opposing digimon.

"Pitfall!"

Gazimon screamed in blind anger before digging himself into the ground. DemiDevimon sighed in a dramatic matter before flying back into the air. Gazimon emerged back from the ground a few seconds latter only to find nothing but empty air.

DemiDevimon quickly darted towards the back of its head with both claws, knocking his opponent out before he could fully grasp what had just happened.

"Awesome!", Hinata cheered from his hiding spot and almost ran out of it.

"Stay back!", DemiDevimon yelled at him harshly. The boy was visibly taken aback but to his relief, he followed the order.

DemiDevimon could smell the other digimon before he heard it. It came closer at a very fast pace. A bright red beast jumped out of the woods and landed on top of a rock in the middle of the meadow.

"Boss..." The first Gazimon, who had just regained his consciousness, stated weakly. DemiDevimon snarled. He should have known that those feeble Gazimon wouldn't act on their own.

"You little punk!", their boss, a wolf like champion level, growled.

"I, Fangmon, will not tolerate anybody disturbing my territory!"

With that, the red wolf unleashed his sharp claws.


	5. Twilight and dawn Part II

DemiDevimon narrowly dodged his opponent's claws. Earth and small stones flew around when the impact created a hole in the ground.

Fangmon quickly turned around and jumped after him, again only missing him by a few inches. With his opponent's insane speed, it was proofing difficult for DemiDevimon to avoid getting hit, yet alone perform his own moves.

He knew that for now, Fangmon was just playing with him, trying to tire him out before delivering the final blow. His hind legs were strong enough jump high altitudes and the relatively high rocks were in his advantage. His two henchmen had already left the battle field.

Slowly, DemiDevimon grew more and more frustrated. The frustration made him loose his concentration and he noticed Fangmon changing his direction mid-air too late. The claws hit him right in the side, making him spiral down to the ground.

The moment he hit the ground, he was struck by yet another strong blow. DemiDevimon hissed in pain and cursed his own weak body. The humiliation of being reduced to a dog toy for a mere champion was even more painful than the scratches all over his body.

Fangmon erupted into a howling laughter and paced around like the prey animal he was. Then, he sprang high into the air again, for his final attack.

"Leave him alone!"

A strong branch hit Fangmon right in his long snout. Before either him or DemiDevimon realized what happened, Hinata had already grabbed the bat and ran into another direction.

"Are you mental? I've told you to stay out!", DemiDevimon yelled at him.

"He hurt you", Hinata yelled back before throwing the branch at Fangmon. The digimon just caught it before destroying it completely with his strong jaw.

"I can survive more hits than you do, child!"

"My, my, you need protection from a human?", Fangmon taunted them before running right after Hinata. The child let himself fall on the ground with a scream, covering his digimon with his own body.

"Don't-", said digimon tried to warn him but he couldn't get any farther.

"-do this!", DemiDevimon finished his thoughts. This child recklessness filled him with rage and anger. Nobody should dare to defy his orders.

Yet, deep inside he was also worried. Worried about this one child's safety, about his well-being.

Deep inside, he wondered if today it was the first day somebody protected him, somebody worried about his own well-being just because he cared about him, Myotismon.

No, DemiDevimon.

No, his name was-

There was a white blinding light. Hinata could feel the ground under him disappearing as if he was lifted up. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on top of a black, leathery shoulder. The shoulder belonged to a winged reptile, staring back at him with two sets of red glowing eyes.

DemiDevimon was gone.

Devidramon felt the power flowing through every part of his body. The pestering Fangmon, previously at least thrice his size, didn't even reach his knees now. He let out a laughter which turned into a roar.

It was magnificent.

There was still a child sitting on his shoulder though.

He flapped his wings and the child lost his balance. Devidramon caught him with his right claw, studying his features for a while. How small this child was, fitting right into his palm. The child was shaking with fear but he didn't expect any other reaction.

There was a small gap in the big rock behind him, big enough to fit a child but too low to allow a Fangmon in there. He shoved the still shaking child inside who tried to wiggle himself out.

"Don't move, child", he growled and his voice seemed to have his old authority back as the child obeyed his order.

Devidramon turned his attention back to Fangmon who stared at him with his mouth hanging open. Not only had DemiDevimon evolved, this Devidramon was also unusually tall for its species.

The dark dragon chuckled lowly and licked his lips. His claws twitched before he soared into the sky.

"Blast Coffin!"

Fangmon to fired a beam from his mouth but it only hit Devidramon's tail were it left no visible damage. The dragon lunged at the wolf.

"Crimson Claw!"

His claws teared through the leather harness of his opponent who barely escaped a worse fate.

"Futile..." Devidramon snarled. "Red Eyes."

He fixated his gaze on Fangmon and paralyzed him with his hypnotic powers. Devidramon simply walked towards him, slowly and enjoying every second of his dominance. His anger rose while being reminiscent of the treatment he received during the first phase of the battle.

"Let's play, shall we?"

One Crimson Claw catapulted the wolf digimon into the sky. Devidramon waited until Fangmon crashed into the ground a few meters away, then he hauled after him with a second attack.

Fangmon barely made any sound when he dissolved into data, only a faint sound resembling breaking glass could be heard.

Devidramon didn't move from his spot for w few seconds, still getting used to the new sensation his evolved form have him. He had been acting mostly on instincts until now and he loathed acting on instincts.

He would later blame said feral instincts for not noticing the sound of footsteps running away from him. Footsteps which belonged to a certain child who had never seen a digimon bigger than a volleyball until this day.

Hinata didn't care where he was heading at, all he knew was that he needed to get away from this feral beast at fast as he could.

He had seen this dragon before with his black wings and its loud roar.

That Fangmon had died, he had seen it with his own eyes. He knew what death meant even if he had never witnessed death before.

Hinata only stopped running when his foot got caught up in a root and he almost fell over. He was held back by somebody before he could make a painful contact with the ground.

"Careful", a feminine voice above him warned him.

Hinata turned around to look into a pair of very blue eyes belonging to a white cat. She had jumped on a low hanging breach in order the back of his shirt. There was a certain calmness and kindness in her eyes that made Hinata instantly feel at ease. She pointed at a nearby tree stump with he free claw.

"Wanna sit down for a bit and catch your breath?"

The moment the adrenalin left the boys' body, his thoughts were back at Demidevimon.

"He's gone, right?", he mumbled in a small voice.

"Who is gone and what happened, child?", the cat asked him while putting her paw on his shoulder.

"My partner. There was this Fangmon and my partner's just a rookie", he told her his story.

"Oh dear, I've heard of this brute. In fact, I only came here to stop his terror." Gatomon saw that the child was close to tears and patted his shoulder softly. "I may don't look like it but I am a champion level."

Hinata looked at her with big eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, it's hundred percent true, my name is Gatomon."

"Mine's Hinata."

Gatomon's face lit up.

"I really like the ring of that name, towards the sun, isn't it? Reminds me of my dearest friend. Well, Hinata I promise you, that I'll stop that wolf from hurting any other digimon ever again."

To her surprise, her words didn't have the intended effect on Hinata as his face darkened again.

"Fangmon is dead. There was a blinding light and this black dragon appeared out of nowhere. He killed him and my partner's gone as well since he showed up."

Gatomon made a startled sound.

"A black dragon? Devi-"

"My poor DemiDevimon...", Hinata lamented the seemingly loss of his partner.

"You gotta be kidding me...", Gatomon said baffled when she put the puzzle pieces together.

"Towards the sun, of course..." Devidramon cursed under his breath while following the scent of his partner. He had to fly slowly as the child had ran into the direction of the sun and the merciless fire ball hurt his eyes already.

He sighed loudly.

All of his careful explanations about the nature of digivolutions had been proving futile as this child had to be afraid of everything bigger than an Unimon.

He flew down when finally spotted a glimpse of a familiar backpack under the leaves.

"There he is!", Hinata yelled loudly after the dragon crashed trough the tree tops. He had taken down one small tree due to his sheer size and stared at the odd pair on the tree stump.

"There you are", Devidramon simply stated while focusing on Hinata.

"You ate my friend!", the child accused him.

"Excuse me?"

Then, Devidramon dramatically lowered his face and covered it with his long claws.

"Child, this claim is simply ridiculous."

If the situation was a different one, Gatomon would have called the facial expression of this Devidramon comical. She had seen a lot of Devidramon in her old life and most never talked or yet alone showing any gestures past showing off their teeth and claws. This huge fella however acted like he jumped right out of an old play.

There was also this erringly familiarity of his voice but she brushed it aside. The scent of the dragon resembled the child, so there was no question that they belonged together.

She coughed in order to gather attention.

"Hinata, I don't think your partner is gone. I think he is standing right in front of you."

Hinata was at a loss for words.

"Devidramon is a possible evolution of DemiDevimon", Gatomon continued her explanation. It was only now, that the mentioned digimon took notice of the cat. His two set of eyes widened in shock when they met with the blue ones of Gatomon. He knew those eyes, he knew them far too good.

She halted her movements as well but her expression was questioning rather than shocked.

Hinata slid off the tree stump and carefully walked towards Devidramon. He squeezed the long arm that still rested on the ground and Devidramon turned his gaze towards him. All of the sudden, Hinata flashed him a smile before hugging said arm.

"I'm so glad you're still here!"

"Hm, I won't leave the world that easily, child. Talking about leaving-" He rose one claw in a scolding matter. "Didn't I tell you not to move?"

"Sorry...", Hinata said quietly while still hugging him. "You looked and acted so different I didn't recognise you anymore..."

"You lost control of yourself, didn't you?", Gatomon asked Devidramon once his partner stopped hugging him. Said digimon acted very offended on this accusation.

"Nonsense", he proclaimed full of pride.

"Really? It happens to the best and it was your first digivolution beyond rookie. No need to feel embarrassed."

She shrugged her shoulders, then she turned towards Hinata.

"You live in Tokyo, right?"

He nodded.

"Good, my partner Kari also lives there. I'll give you her number, I'm sure she would love to teach you more about what having a digimon actually means."

Luckily (for Gatomon, definitely not for the former Myotismon), Hinata found a working pen in the depths of his backpack. Gatomon scrabbled the number and the address in the back of one of his comic books.

Devidramon stayed silent for the entire procedure but inside, he was brooding. On one hand being that close to the child of light was gift from the guardians. On the other hand it was also a curse as he knew that her potential influence on his human wouldn't be in his favour.

Gatomon joined the pair in their travel back to the digi-gate, stating she had planned to make a trip to the human world anyway.

Once they reached the gate, another problem showed up. Devidramon had to revert or he would destroy half of the apartment once he passed through. Digivolving backwards was a task that required a lot of concentration yet with his oblivious nemesis beside him, he couldn't get a single clear thought. It took him almost ten minutes to finally get calm enough to perform the change of forms.

Once he was ready, Gatomon jumped on Hinata's shoulders while the child opened the gate.

Hinata managed to land on his feet this time at least. However he lost his balance on a few seconds later and slipped on the floor.

"Not again...", he mumbled angrily before pushing himself up again.

"Don't worry, I know people older than you who never landed on their feet even once", Gatomon comforted him before shooting an expectant look towards DemiDevimon. He shot her a furious one back but obliged.

"You indeed improved your landing."

His answer pleased both, the child and the cat.

Gatomon left through the window in the living room, the very same DemiDevimon once stood on. It was only early noon right now but both, Hinata and his partner, felt pretty exhausted already.

"I'll retire for the day, child, this digivolution business drained my energy."

Hinata yawned. "Bed sounds nice but I've got homework. Hey, DemiDevimon..."

"Yes?"

"You're smart, can you proof read my assignment later? Dad gets angry if I make too many mistakes."

The bat considered the request for a few seconds before agreeing.

"Well, I don't see why I couldn't as long as you don't use my aid as an excuse to slack off."

"You're the best."

A few minutes later, the former Myotismon could have sworn that the child actually tucked him in before drifting into sleep.


	6. Halloween Special: The future

Bakemon weren't very dutiful when it came to cleaning, it was against their nature. Explaining this little detail to their boss had been futile. Actually they didn't even manage to reach the explain part.

He had just stared at them with his usual calm look and the Bakemon they had voted as their speaker quietly shuffled away. While these undead king didn't frequently use his crimson claw he still knew how to keep the ghosts under his control.

"I hate cleaning...", Bakemon sighed as he sat down next to a spider's net. It was one of the perks of the digital world that also random things like this could appear out of nowhere even though the corresponding spiders where absent.

"Just leave it then, it makes a good decoration", a young voice suddenly said behind him. Startled, Bakemon jumped (or rather floated) up.

"Don't scare me like that, Hinata, it's supposed to be the other way around", he scolded the child who quickly apologized. Only than the ghost noticed the unusual clothes he was wearing. He was clad in a long black robe that had an V-emblem sewn into it and a collar added at in a rather unprofessional way. Underneath he wore a dress shirt rather than a casual shirt. The boy rose his arms and turned around in front of the ghost.

"You like it? It's my Halloween costume, it was a wizard at first but I changed it into a vampire all by myself."

"Halloween... yes...", Bakemon nodded. He had heard of Halloween. They celebrated ghosts and monsters in the human world and children collected sweets walking from house to house. The ghost loved the idea of becoming some kind of celebrity for one day but so far nobody in the digital world had ever celebrated this holyday.

"I think I'm gonna spook this entire castle up and throw a surprise party. I even brought over some decorations. Wanna join?" Hinata continued from where he left of earlier.

Bakemon considered the offer, celebrating himself sounded wonderful.

"Of course, let me rally up the rest!"

The mention of the word party and the notion that everybody was invented filled the dinning room almost instantly. Sadly, the two packets full of Halloween goods where not enough to fill the entire castle but luckily the dinning room alone would suffice. They put little plastic spiders right next to the nets at the entrance, tiny bats were put at the chandelier and the candle stands and a big pumpkin with the notice "Don't eat!" was placed on the table. The entire installation was finished with multiple ghost shaped balloons and a garland that read "Happy Halloween ".

After the preparations where finished an argument broke out among the Bakemon. On one hand, they wanted to dress up as well but on the other hand the fact that they were undead digimon already made them dressed for the occasion. Hinata stopped the argument by noting that they could just put on a costume of whatever they considered scary themselves rather than what others thought. About half of the Bakemon then left the room searching for inspiration and materials while the other half organized a costume competition.

Five Bakemon and one human child were sitting in a circle, debating on how they should judge the costumes.

"I think the master should be one of the judges, he's the boss after all."

"He'll be waking up soon anyways, we could go and ask him now."

"Yeah, but this is supposed to be a surprise party and he's the last digimon left we could actually surprise."

"Good point", Hinata added. "Maybe we can crown two winners, one by popular vote and one by king's declaration." His offer was met with five nods.

"It's settled then, I think our first entry is already waiting at the door."

The audience took their seats at the dinning table when the first Bakemon floated above said table as if it was a fashion stage.

"My name is Justimon", he boomed the audience while posing. The costume itself was impressing, he had taken a gauntlet and the helmet from an old armour and even found a fitting red sash.

"Justice Kick!"

An awkward silence followed. The Bakemon had been so in character that he had forgotten that he didn't have any legs and thus could not perform the move. The audience clapped nevertheless after Hinata elbowed his neighbour whispering something about politeness.

The next contestant had taken the ancient tale about Kazemon as an inspiration. A pair of delicate, glittery wings were attached to his back and a purple wig kept falling over his eyes. This Bakemon decided to show her feminine self for once, the only difference between Bakemon of different genders was the pitch of the voice.

"And now, my special move!", she shouted in a even more high pitched-voice and one viewer quickly covered the eyes of Hinata.

"Brezzo Petalo."

"Oops, I thought you were going for Carino Anca instead."

"You wish!"

The third contestant turned out to be a Leomon, with two wigs sewn together for a mane and weaving a kitchen knife as a sword. He let out a few roars before shouting "Lion Sword". Multiple sets of plates and silverware were suddenly floating into the dinning room and landed on the table.

"Dinner's almost ready by the way", he added before settling on his seat.

Entry number four had the most detailed costume, a helmet held a long blond wig in place, old sheets had been tailored into a set of wings and a pink shawl was thrown over the Bakemon's shoulders. A pretty Angewomon floated over the table, stopped in the middle and coughed a few times.

"Er..Heaven's Charm", a deep voice nervously said putting a dent in the otherwise flawless appearance.

The last contestant went as Gomamon, purple markings were painted on his white cloth and a trademark red iro was attached to his head.

"Marching Fishes."

A swarm of grilled fish flew through the door and performed a few loops before landing right on the plates.

The audience cheered loudly, also because they had become quite hungry.

"Hey chef, the performance was great but why a Gomamon, they're just a Rookie?", the youngest Bakemon asked him. The elder's face darkened.

"I once met a Gomamon with a cassette recorder. It kept playing holy sutras."

"Oh dear, that's scary."

Myotismon rose the moment the sun set behind the mountains. Something felt odd, the castle's mood was different than usual.

He sighed.

Whenever a mood shift happened, it meant that his subordinates had messed up yet again. Maybe half of the plates got broken or somebody accidentally got locked up in his wine cellar. He sincerely hoped they didn't misplace his partner child they were supposed to watch during daylight.

The undead king gracefully walked towards the dinning room where the castle's inhabitants had already gathered. From what he could tell with his telepathic abilities, not a single digimon or human was missing. He could smell grilled fish, not the dinner that was originally scheduled but nothing out of ordinary either.

Only when he stood right before the entrance, Myotismon finally noticed the first oddity.

Not only was the spider's net he ordered to be cleaned up still in place, some jester apparently thought it was funny to put a tiny spider right next to it. He wondered if the Bakemon simply wanted to mock him or if they discovered political activism and were still protesting against cleaning duty. A flock of Bakemon forming a worker's union in order to dethrone their king. He quickly shook his head.

Then he opened the doors in a dramatic motion.

"Surprise!"

Myotismon blinked. Thrice.

The room was still bright and gaudy and half of his subordinates were unusually colourful.

"Hinata...what is the meaning of these modifications?", he asked the child, knowing he was most likely between this action. He had seen the very same bats inside Hinata's room a few days ago and he couldn't think of anyone else except a child who would pull such a stunt.

"It's Halloween, we're celebrating!", he beamed with a bright smile on his face. "Do you like it, I got a partner costume, I'm a vampire just like you." He fixed his collar that was just about to fall down.

"I see", Myotismon answered in a diplomatic manner. "Alas, I assume costume also explains your rather colourful appearance ", he addressed his Bakemon. "Yes, sir!", was the unison response.

"They picked up the scariest digimon by their opinion", Hinata added.

Myotismon massaged his temples. He still planned to conquer both worlds with those subordinates for an army.

"Sir..?"

"You may speak."

"Would you mind picking the scariest costume? We kind of have a tie right now and we need at least one winner by King's declaration."

The five contestants rose from their seats. They were all dressed up as different kinds of virus busters, unsurprisingly, considering they were virus types. One specific costume even managed to make Myotismon uneasy, a feat on its own.

"You, with the pink shawl", he whispered slowly. "You represent a certain angel, right?"

"Yes, sir, I'm an Angewomon. Do you wish me to enchant you with my Heaven's Charm?"

"For the guardians' sake, no!", Myotismon answered sharply. The undead king was mortified.

"Sorry, sir..." the angelic Bakemon whispered.

"Don't apologize", his neighbour told him. "I think you just won the competition."

The next day the undead king, Myotismon, announced a new law.

"I hereby declare that it is not allowed to dress up as Angewomon in order to enter a competition or for celebration purposes."


	7. Bats flying parachutes

It had taken him a while to locate a flock of Bakemon. Virus types had become roll these days those who still linger at around were given work already. Of course he could just hire different digimon for renovating his castle but he alas, he had his aesthetics.

His very own aesthetics that that brought him the combined laughter of both Piedmon and Etemon who claimed he was the worst leader they could imagine. He had been so adamant about finding the right subordinates in terms of skills and especially appearance that he had refused to hire any non-undead digimon. Which resulted in some last-minute recruiting once he was actually in dire need of an army.

"The abandoned castle you say?"

"Yes."

"No way, it's cursed."

He let his two pairs of red eyes fall on Bakemon's ragged frame.

"The problem would be..? You're cursed yourself."

The Bakemon nervously shuffled around.

"Well, it's a different kind of cursed. You see, the last digimon who entered the castle never returned, they vanished for eternity, not even their eggs came back."

"The gate to the human world is no longer active ", Devidramon stated nonchalantly. "Hence I plan to to become the "new" master of the castle."

The Bakemon shuffled more and more.

"Well, sir, how much do you pay?"

The answer was: a lot, centuries of being an absolutistic monarch who was above garish mortal amusements (unlike a certain shogun), left him with a large fortune. The eleven ghosts gathered behind him, following his lead like freshly hatched ducklings would follow their mother. The few digimon they passed on the way stared at them bewildered.

They were used to the flock of Bakemon and knew they were harmless but their new leader made them feel uneasy. It was their instincts that told them to be wary.

After all, most digimon in this area had lived here for decades at least.

* * *

Father needed the computer today, taxes were due and he had to fill multiple forms in. Hinata knew that this task took his father usually three days which meant he was on his own in the meantime. DemiDevimon had to return to his home world from time to time since longer stays in the human world were exhausting and limited his abilities to evolve.

Hinata had braced himself for another lonely week if it wasn't for Gatomon who suddenly appeared on his windowsill early in the morning. She had brought him an envelope. Inside, there was an advertisement for a class she was organizing. "My Digimon and me – the first steps to a successful partnership" was written on top of a timetable in colourful letters. There were three options given, two of them taking place in a elementary school in Odaiba during the week and one taking place during the weekend with the place pending.

"Just write down on which days you can attend, one of the older kids can take you to Odaiba and back home if you wish", Gatomon instructed him.

"Oh, one last thing. I hope you like ramen, Davis volunteered for the buffet and he wants to became a ramen chef."

It turned out that Dan had received an invention as well and was planning to attend said meeting right after school. His partner had digivolved into ToyAgumon and was currently hiding in the library, posing at the latest art project whenever somebody came to close. Once he the school bell ringed, both boys carried the digimon down the stairs to avoid any suspicion.

"I hope Kari can help us figure out how to devolve, because carrying you all the way to school is hurting my back...", Dan complained after settling down his partner back on his feet in an empty side street.

"Pff, you live right in front of the train station", ToyAgumon huffed in response. "Plus, I'm not heavy. Right, kid?" The last part was directed at Hinata and both, Dan and ToyAgumon gave him the same pledging look that said "please agree with me".

The word "diplomatic" crossed Hinata's mind, DemiDevimon explained him the art dodging an uncomfortable question a few days ago.

"Well, I haven't lifted many digimon yet...", he answered with an polite smile.

Hinata was baffled that nobody commented on ToyAgumon as they were transporting him through the train station, passing hundreds of people. While it was still a little bit early for rush hour, the train that rode them to Odaiba was already pretty packed. At least Hinata could secure a place nearby a window, enjoying the great view over the bay the Rainbow Bridge offered. He was so caught up in the landscape, that he almost didn't hear Dan who told him they had to hop out at the next station.

* * *

At was already half past three once they finally made it to the entrance of the Odaiba Elementary School and they were already out of breath, expect ToyAgumon of course, who was already rethinking his diet.

Finding the computer room wasn't difficult, they just had to follow the smell of cooked ramen and the sound of hungry pleads. Once they opened the door, the manifestation of chaos itself manifested itself before their eyes. Multiple small digimon babies and children were all gathered around a seemingly annoyed boy and a big, blue dragon who held an huge bowl over his head. The small digimon kept asking for food while the boy tried to tell them each time that the food wouldn't be served until every attendant was there. Also, right now, the noodles were only half-cooked anyway.

"I guess, that's Davis...", Hinata guessed out of the blue.

Said boy quickly turned around.

"That's right. Hey kids", he turned around to the small digimon. "Just look at these new faces. Why don't you introduce yourself."

Davis then whispered something in his partner's ear.

While the bunch of digimon hopped towards the newcomers, the blue dragon quickly ran away from them in order to hide the ramen bowl. He stormed past the two boys and left three rows of baffled digimon behind.

Davis wiped away the sweat from his front in a slightly dramatic fashion before stepping in front of the small digimon.

"Motomiya Davis is my full name, how should I call you guys?"

After they introduced themselves, Davis pointed them to the room next door stating that Kari is preparing some experiment with the other chosen children in there. The boys were among the last persons to arrive and therefore, the room was already full of people, some even looking like they were too old or too young to attend elementary school.

Kari stood in the end of the room, handing everyone a name tag and having small talk. Hinata liked her instantly, she radiated a certain kind of warmth and familiarity.

The first game was a guessing game. Each child that had brought their partner with them had to describe said digimon to the others. Depending on how long the two of them knew each other, there were different difficulties. Some were allowed to describe the colours or shapes, others should only describe their partner's personality. The goal was to for the partners to get to know each other better and for the guessers to grow more familiar with unknown digimon species.

A lot of similar games and exercises followed, Hinata learned about the general outline of the digiworld, the best way to disguise your partner as a plush toy or hide them inside a duffel bag (albeit Hinata doubted DemiDevimon would use a duffel bag by free will yet alone climbing inside one) and how to budget the extra food (the supermarket of the Inoue family offered a discount for digimon).

Once the lessons were over, Davis finally served the anticipated ramen and most kids stared with awe at ExVeemon, he was the first champion level most of them had ever seen. Flustered, he turned back into his Rookie form once the cups had been served.

Everyone build a circle and Davis went as red as a tomato after Kari commented that he got the seasoning right this time. One very young child then asked him if he had accidentally put to much chili into his bowl.

Hinata enjoyed himself, it had been a long time since he had been around so many new people. Until the conversation shifted at least.

It was a shift all discussions among children who just met will lead to sooner or later. Hinata knew that very well and he understood the purpose, yet he wasn't very fond of this topic even though he liked being around people.

"So, tell me: What is your dream?"

"What do you want to study?"

"I want to become a nurse, just like my aunt, what about you?"

"My dream is becoming a kindergarten teacher."

"I play the piano and start violin lessons next year, I want to join an orchestra."

"What is your dream?"

All those words, all those questions filled the air. They all had a dream, some more vague than others but still, they all had a goal in their life. They all knew which path they had to follow, they knew were they belonged.

Everyone, except Hinata who was simply lost.

* * *

Hinata stayed quiet. He wasn't asking everyone questions and thus didn't get any questions asked in return. He didn't comment, except when a lot of others commented as well and his voice could easily be overheard. Hinata hoped he could get away with it, as he usually did. After all, what else should a boy without dreams do in such a situation.

After the first half of chosen children left, Davis suddenly loomed over him, eyeing Hinata suspiciously. The younger boy was taken by surprise and thus made a face like he had been caught doing something bad. He probably indeed did to something bad.

"Hey, why did you stop talking all of the sudden?" Then Davis sighed. "Did you suddenly feel sick or something? "

Hinata blinked. "Um, no? I'm just tired, that's all."

"You don't look tired, more like you're really sad-"

Davis suddenly fell silent, his voice had dropped already on the last word. Then he sat down next to Hinata and looked him straight in the eye.

"Gotcha!", Davis then proclaimed loudly and the few people left all turned around.

"You don't know which job your gonna pick up, right?"

Hinata wanted to tell him he was wrong but he knew his blushing cheeks betrayed him. Much to his surprise Davis simply gave him a soft slap on the shoulder.

"That's okay, Hinata", he proclaimed while scanning his name tag. "You're only eight, right."

"Yes." Hinata finally got his voice back.

"Then you still have years to decide what you like best. Man, I'll bet my older sis' still can't decide exactly what she wants to be and she's in high school. Or at least she refuses to tell me..."

Again, Hinata was at a loss for words. Most people, mostly his parents, would scold him for having his head in the air because he not the slightest clue of what to make out of his life. His grades were only average or slightly below most of the time and he wasn't especially creative either.

Davis didn't ask him about his grades but instead told him about a certain Joey who only recently decided he wanted to become a doctor despite always acing academically. Halfway during his speech, Kari sat down next to Hinata.

"Is there something you really like, Hinata?"

"Like as in a favourite food? Or more like hobbies?"

Kari clapped her hands.

"It could be anything. Davis decided to become a chef because he simply liked ramen. T.K said he wants to a writer because he enjoyed telling stories and has talent for it. I always liked being around younger children and help them discover the world, so my dream is becoming a kindergarten teacher."

Hinata let all this information sat in for a while, by now only Dan was left, waiting in the doorway to take him home.

"You know, I really like being around a lot of people, just like today. I'm a fan of Batman 'cause he looks cool and has the best gadgets."

Hinata paused, thinking more about his preferences.

"I also want to fly. Landscapes look the best of you see them from far above."

"You want to fly an airplane?"

"No, I want to fly on my own. With a parachute or something like that."

Kari smiled at him.

"That sounds like a nice start."

* * *

As usual, Hinata returned to an empty apartment but he wasn't feeling lonely at all, even if he only shared his company with the kitchen radio. It was like part of the other children he met today were still with him. He knew that his partner digimon would return in two days, even having promised to bring back a surprise to look forward to. Hinata tried to write his homework in his best handwriting, knowing how much the bat appreciated order and tidiness.

His father woke Hinata up three hours later. The boy had fallen asleep with the radio still silently playing the latest hits in the background. Right next him was his almost finished homework for the weekend, despite still being half-asleep the child was surprised at how far he had actually gotten.

Hinata was certain to receive scolding from his father's usual stern look but instead he just told him to not forget brushing his teeth before sending him off to bed.

There Hinata dreamt of bats flying parachutes and numerous people cheering in cities far below.


	8. Nostalgia

*Nostalgia

A sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.  
(*from the Oxford dictionary)

* * *

Nostalgia.  
He had heard of that feeling. The ancient word was build out of the word home and pain.

Home.  
The digi-world was his native world but he saw it more as a base of operation, one of many worlds he wished to conquer. Yet, his castle was something else, the only place that was truly his. A long time ago it had been operated by homeostasis' agents but he had reigned it for centuries and left his mark in the form of countless spells.

He closed his four eyes.  
He could almost breath his very own magic that lingered in the air. The walls recognized their master.  
His castle had always been his experimental ground and even after many years had passed, he still held full control over the walls which was most likely the reason no one had dared to take it over during his absence.

The Bakemon whispered to each other, wondering how their new master planned to enter any room with his sheer size.  
He opened one set of eyes and the whispering stopped immediately.  
"Fools, the rooms fit me, not the other way around."  
The castle walls obeyed him and, as if they were just made out of paper, remodelled themselves. Two floors merged into a single large one and the cellar rearranged itself in order to create wider paths. The only rooms that stayed the same were the servants' rooms like the kitchen located in the small tower. He never entered any of those rooms nor did he care about them, therefore there was little of his magic to them. He would've been enraged if he ever found out that some servants and Piedmon himself had used those chambers as storerooms for junk.

The Bakemon made surprised "Oh" sound and instantly scattered around the lobby to get a better look. Even though they lacked intelligence, Bakemon were the best servants for his castle. They couldn't care less about the height of a room since they floated and they didn't mind the lack of light. Also, the ghosts were pretty loyal as long as they had enough food and would never plan to dethrone him which meant they usually lasted very long.  
If Bakemon only learned to appreciate a clean and dust free floor he might have actually liked them.

He gave his new minions a short lecture about his rules and the duties they needed to fulfil. Most of the cellar and certain parts of the library where off limits unless he specifically ordered otherwise. He was also not to be disturbed while in the library except when an emergency occurred. Misplacing a broom did not count as an emergency.

Dinner and lunch always had to follow the same strict routine even when he wasn't present. Every Bakemon was assigned to cleaning duty as the floors were in dire need of it.  
The Bakemon collectively groaned.  
"Sir Boss, can't we all just fly over the dust?"  
Devidramon glared at the speaker, paralyzing him in the process. The others fell quiet instantly.  
"Last but not least, the most important rule: Do not defy my orders."

* * *

Manoeuvring around in the library used to be easier in his ultimate form and so was reading books in general but turning back into his rookie form was no option until he figured out how to digivolve without the dreaded digivice. He knew that he could regress his form without a partner but it was a one-way ticket.  
His memories on how he reached his ultimate form for the first time were blurry but he knew it took him decades.  
He shuddered.  
He had no intentions to play this charade with the boy for decades. He wanted to form his partner into a prince of darkness before he reached adulthood, perhaps some seeds of darkness could do the trick.

He scratched the "seed" option five hours later. While the boy, shunned from his own family and with barely any self-esteem, was the perfect candidate, the seed would disable his own ability to digivolve. The guardians of the digi-world knew the downsides of the human nature and their tendency to abuse power, hence they chose children most of the time. Should the human succumb to darkness rather than living up to their virtues, the digivice would stop working. He recalled that the Ichijouji boy's digimon was stuck in his rookie stage for almost three years. He also recalled that the digimon of the wisdom boy simply regressed into his lowest stage once his partner gave up the power of his crest.

He could have screamed but instead he growled loudly. These damned guardians were sneaky, while they weren't able to remove him from the circle of rebirth completely, they had been able to bind him to their conditions.  
Still, homeostasis' interference was limited and he would be damned if he didn't find a way to bend the rules in his favour.  
As he usually did.

* * *

Four Bakemon had been put on food duty, which meant they had to search the nearby woods for something eatable. Something their knew master considered eatable, which meant they had to search for rare fresh ingredients. At least their new master had been considerate enough to leave a selection of approved recipe books outside the library before he barricaded himself in there.

At first, they raided an abandoned meat field that might or might have not originally belonged to the castle. Nevertheless, they left a crude sign informing every bypassing digimon that this field was now definitely part of the castle grounds.  
Contend with their loot, the four ghosts proceeded to search for mushrooms, hopefully avoiding the poisonous ones. Being undead digimon, they were more durable than the average digimon when it came to consuming poisonous or rotten food yet their master had made it clear that he had certain standards.  
In hindsight, if they hadn't been searching for food, the ghosts might had noticed the strange smell far to late.  
It was the chef who noticed it first and he told the others to stay still.  
"Do you smell this as well?"  
The others sniffed around.  
"Yeah", the youngest Bakemon answered. "There's a salty smell in the air."  
"It's almost as if you can hear ocean waves far away...", an older female ghost answered. She paused.  
"No, there definitely is the sound of waves."  
"This can't be, we're in the middle of the continent."  
"Stay alert, all of you!"

Both, the faint sound and the smell came from the same direction as the castle but seemed to be father away than the building itself. The ghosts floated as fast as they could with their luggage. By the time they saw the silhouette of the castle, the ocean seemed to have lurked even closer.

* * *

While their master was still away, two Bakemon, a veteran and a youngster, were guarding the front door. At least, guarding was the official description. In reality, the veteran explained his involuntary student the proper Bakemon way.  
He floated with his eyes closed and had leaned his decorative spear next to the wall. Next to him, his co-worker stared at him with suspicion.  
"Are you sure you're not falling asleep and let me do the entire work?"  
The other huffed and opened one single eye.  
"Of course not. I'm saving energy, you should do the same young lady or you'll be exhausted from guarding when the enemy attacks."  
Another huff followed, this time it was the younger digimon.  
"Exhausted from guarding? What exactly is exhausting about floating around a little and wave with a spear at every visitor."  
Her elderly coworker closed his eyes again and started to drift of. "Also, this is a special technique to confuse the enemy... ", he yawned. "The enemy thinks you're asleep and then he tries to sneak in and then you zzz...Ouch!"  
"Attack", she finished his sentence.

* * *

Something has changed between his second and his third rebirth, albeit one could argue his first two weren't proper rebirths but more the outcome of his own rule bending. He was the king of undead digimon after all.  
He still had all of his memories, yet they felt different.  
Before, he could read any text in any language, he could simply understand all of them as if they were his own native language. Every digimon had this ability as every written language had found its way inside computers over the years. Apparently, partner digimon lost this ability making them only fluent in their partner's native tongue.  
It was not as if he had forgotten how to read foreign languages, since he still had his memories but he had to actively translate them in his head. He had to read certain phrases twice to decipher their exact meaning, a task he found rather frustrating.  
He was a king, elegant and cultivated and he wasn't supposed to struggle with something as simple as reading.

Only after he started to reread an old tome concerning the crests, he noticed a far more radical change.  
This specific tome had always been one of the most important books in his library. It was thanks to his intense studying of its pages he was able to locate the dreaded crest of light. He could recite every single comma as every chapter had burned itself into his memory.  
He hated to admit it but no matter how many times he had read the tome, most descriptions had stayed foreign for him. Myotismon, the undead king, had never understood what love meant. He had only known hate.  
Bravery and friendship had been only vague concepts for him. He had come the closest with wisdom but the curiosity aspect had always escaped him. Sincerity and reliability had been useless baggage, kindness had been equal to weakness and hope had been laughable at best. It had been a cold, belittling laughter devoid of emotion.

Light.

He had always loathed light the most.  
He had known that the sun was light, therefore he had created a cover of mist over the sky of Odaiba. Covering the sun should have had destroyed all light, that's what he had thought.  
Myotismon, the undead king, had never fully grasped the metaphorical meaning of light, that a person could be a beacon of light as well.  
It was no wonder that he didn't know what the determined look in Gatomon's eyes meant until it was too late.

Now he understood.

The hollow words were finally filled with could feel, feel the emotions behind "hope" and "love".He had heard of this phenomenon before, a partner digimon was emotionally linked to his partner child but he had always thought it was more like reading each other's mind. Instead it allowed the digimon to think like a human.

It was almost as if he was able to feel empathy.

Almost.

* * *

Suddenly there were multiple bangs at the doors.

He growled lowly in annoyance, only a few hours had passed and his servants already disturbed him. They were nervous, some even afraid, judging from the rapid way the Bakemon hammered at the doors. Most likely with their brooms, probably conveniently breaking one or two in the process.

He noticed the odd smell before the first digimon began to talk. It didn't belong to the castle or any other part of the digital world but to another familiar "place".

"Boss!", one Bakemon yelled. "We're under attack!"  
"I know. Deep Savers I assume."  
"Yes, sir. Two Gesomon are heading towards us."  
"Only two champions? Insulting."

The former Myotismon could still feel the infamous presence, the constant coldness mixed with a depressing darkness, that lingered around, but it started to get weaker as the enemies came closer.  
"Seems like "he" still has his difficulties with stable gates...", he said to himself with a certain hint of schadenfreude.

The dark ocean slowly faded away.


	9. Ink

Devidramon flew atop the highest roof, from there he scanned the surrounding forest. In southeastern parts, trees were frequently felled by the squid digimon who tried to work their way through the forest. They were obviously not used to the environment that was so different from their ocean.

He would let them keep trying for a while as the task would leave his enemies exhausted by the time they reached his castle. Once they were only ten minutes away from reaching the first gate, he ordered his Bakemon to position themselves.

The strategy was simple, split up the enemies and take them out one by one.

He jumped of the roof and soared high into the sky.

The Bakemon opened the nearest gate and, as expected, the first Gesomon simply entered without thinking twice. It was programmed to follow orders without questioning them and the order was to infiltrate the castle.

"Crimson Claw!"

Devidramon tackled down the second Gesomon down while the gate was closed. The squid was sturdier than it seemed as it didn't break into tiny bits of data after this direct hit.

Devidramon quickly flew back into the air before his opponent could spray him in ink.

He gave a short glimpse to the Bakemon who fought the other Gesomon. They had managed to gain an upper hand, swarming around and attacking in unpredictable patterns. Also, there was a broken broom.

The dark dragon rolled his four eyes. Then he paralyzed the first Gesomon with a "Red Glare" before it was destroyed under the constant attacks of his servants.

* * *

The second intruder didn't even seem to notice his partner was gone which was rather unusual in the digital world. Devidramon recalled that the inhabitants of the dark ocean where often mind-controlled and lost those instincts over time. All that was left was cold rage.

He soared downwards once again, dodging the storm of tentacles the squid unleashed. His claws dug right through the middle of the digimon, making it shatter into many tiny bits of data. Out of curiosity and old habits, the former Myotismon consumed some of the flying bits.

Consuming data of fallen digimon had always been frowned due to numerous dangers attached to the procedure. When an entire digimon was consumed, its core, it's soul still lived on inside the predator who often became insane sooner or later. If only parts were consumed, the reborn victim was in high risk of being corrupted depending on how much of the data was missing.

Yet, it was this forbidden fruit that had given Myotismon his power.

He felt the rage of Gesomon flowing through his body the same way he could feel the cold of cool water when he drank it. The sensation was different from the one he had felt when he drank his victims' data and sometimes human blood as a vampire.

* * *

The castle gate was reopened and he could now hear the Bakemon cheering by singing loudly. If he didn't knew better, Devidramon would think that the song in question happened to be twelve-tone music with each Bakemon purposely rejecting every rule of classical music. Instead it was actually supposed to be a tune from a children's movie from the human world with the lyrics altered to fit the occasion.

"This is Bakemon, this is Bakemon! Everybody scream!"

He made a mental note to arrange proper musical education for his servants while himself receiving a lesson in what embarrassment felt like.

* * *

News travelled fast around the digiworld and it only took until dinner before more guests made their way towards the castle. This time however, the digimon didn't come as enemies but as curious visitors.

Devidramon counted mostly rookies, a few champions and even one ultimate and decided to welcome the group personally in case the later happened to be rather impatient.

He instructed his servants to lead the digimon towards the dining room. He was a true king after all and true kings did not greet visitors at the doorway. Instead they received visitors, brought to them by restless servants.

The digimon were stuck in awe when they entered the dining room. Devidramon had reconstructed the room to look much warmer and friendlier than before and even added a few windows in the back but still left thick curtains in front of them. The dining room looked like it jumped right out of an advertisement for a western castle hotel.

The entire setup delivered its desired effect. Whereas the group had had an air of suspicion around them, they loosened up now.

"Welcome. What leads to you to my humble home?"

"Well", a Ninjamon started, trying to be as polite as possible. "This castle had been empty for years and we heard it has new inhabitants."

"Indeed. I just moved in."

"We all thought that damned king of darkness returned", a Mushroomon suddenly blurted out and everyone quickly sucked their breath.

Devidramon let out a low chuckle.

"I'll be honest with you, I'm a partner digimon and have never met this dark king face to face. I simply thought this castle was too magnificent to be deserted."

Simultaneously, multiple digimon exhaled, including most Bakemon. The rest of the evening was spent as some kind of neighbourhood gathering, not being short of the usual gossip. The digimon turned out to be Digitamamon who still ran his restaurant and spontaneously hired two rookies to hand out his flyers to everyone else. The egg digimon had even thought about printing them in different sizes and Devidramon found himself having a particularly large version thrown right into his claws.

It spelled things like "buy two bowls for the prize of three" and "delivering everywhere, literally " or "catering service included but bring your own plates". It seemed like Digitamamon had only gotten his hands on misprints when it came down to business theory.

* * *

After all of their guests had left, the Bakemon gathered around their master.

"Is it true that you're a partner digimon?"

Devidramon looked at them silently before answering.

"Yes", he stated and watched his servants reaction. They started to whisper to each other and Devidramon didn't even have to guess their next question.

"I will also travel to the human world soon but I also expect this castle to be in prime condition whenever I return."

"When will you leave?"

"In two days."

* * *

Devidramon had left instructions for Hinata so the boy could open the gate between the worlds at the right time. He bid his farewell to his servants two days later and flew towards the next gate. There he reverted back into Demidevimon and started waiting.

It took only around twenty minutes until he could feel the power of the digi-vice dragging him into the human world.

Hinata caught him midair, happily proclaiming his name. When Demidevimon opened his eyes, he met the gaze of numerous children and digimon. To his great shock, some of his mortal enemies were among them. There was the hope boy, goggles junior, the former kaiser and her, the child of light.

"How was your stay? Oh, this are T.K and Davis and...", Hinata rambled off a list of names. Demidevimon cut him off before he started to name their digimon as well as he naturally knew their names already.

Apparently, the boy had managed to sign himself up for a class led by _her_ from all people. Unfortunately, class was almost over already and Demidevimon mentally relaxed. He had expected to enter the human world in the boy's living room, not being almost thrown into the clutches of his worst nightmare. Other than Ken pointing out that a Demidevimon was a very unusual partner digimon, none of the children seemed to be suspicious of his true nature, for now at least.

* * *

It was raining when they left the school and made their way to the train station. Demidevimon politely declined Hinata's offer to climb under his very yellow rain coat, instead flying above the boy for a while.

"You must have a really great view from up there", the child yelled after him when no adult was in sight.

Demidevimon looked down to the boy, a yellow spot standing on a wet grey street. Then the bat proceeded to actually look at his surroundings.

He wasn't flying very high, only above the trees but he could still see the statue of liberty and the Rainbow Bridge behind it. Personally, he had already seen both and wasn't particularly impressed. The boy beamed nevertheless when he described the view to him a kept asking for more details.

Once they were at home, Hinata pressed his partner to tell him what he had done in the digi-world. Devidemimon teased the boy for a while, finding the child's impatience somewhat amusing, before stating that he had prepared a magnificent surprise for him.

"You know, I actually got a surprise for you as well!", the boy then announced.

"Summer break is starting next week and dad told me yesterday we're driving to grandpa's place on Sunday."

"Those are the same grandparents your mother and your brother are staying at I assume."

"Yes", Hinata answered with a smile on his face. To anybody who didn't know the boy, that smile would have passed for pure joy but Demidevimon saw the signs of worry as well. The boy was indeed happy to spent time with his entire family, there was no doubt. Yet, there always was a shadow lurking.

Somewhere, waves were splashing at the shore on a starless night.


	10. Traveling

A drawer was roughly opened and closed again. Then another one was opened and a child silently cursed under his breath.

"Damnit, where are they?"

Demidevimon gave up on returning to sleep and slowly opened one eye. Once he got used to the brightness pure chaos met his sight. Clothes were littered all over the ground with some toys and comic books scattered in between them. Old tales said that vampires love order so much, that a little bit of spilled rice can lead to an existential crisis and those traits were definitely inherited by him. It took him almost a solid minute to shake of his shock.

* * *

The culprit himself had just crawled under his bed, shoving out even more comic books and his secret candy stack.

Demidevimon cleared his throat loudly to get the child's attention. Hinata immediately wriggled his way out and greeted his partner.

"Morning, are you awake?"

Demidevimon huffed slightly.

"Of course I am, I'd be talking in my sleep otherwise." Then the bat gestured at the littered floor. "Care to elaborate the reason behind the state of your room?"

Hinata rolled his eyes before standing up to clean his legs off the dust that had previously been under his bed.

"I can't find my swimming trunks and I just can't go to my grandparents without them. They'll live just one block away from the beach and we always go swimming there."

Demidevimon considered giving a lengthy lecture about the topic of priorities and general organisation but decided to tone it down to a small one after checking the clock.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about packing your normal wardrobe first before wasting your time searching for something as specific as sport clothes? Just look at their state, you have to fold them again now."

* * *

Before Hinata could answer, his father called him for breakfast. The boy quickly picked up his partner and dashed towards the kitchen.

The boy's father gave a disapproving look towards Demidevimon who rested still in Hinata's arms.

"You are way too old to walk around with a ragged toy like this. Put it back into your room instantly."

"Err...Father, he is not a toy, he is a ventriloquist puppet. For a school project."

After one chosen child with a Tapirmon had to deal with an awkward call from an animal rescue centre, it was decided that ventriloquist puppet was the best excuse to conceal a digimon's true nature. Also, nobody questioned a talking puppet the way they questioned a dog loudly complaining about a sandwich having eggs in it.

Mr. Sato threw yet another disapproving look towards the stitched bat but seemed to buy the story.

"This puppet sure has been in use for a while. Hopefully, you don't break it any further."

"Yes, father."

Demidevimon was fuming for their entire morning. His pride had taken a huge dent after his encounter with Hinata's father. Him, the great king of darkness had been referred to as a broken puppet. Puppets, he loathed them as much as he disliked monkeys due to a certain digimon that had been as chaotic and loud as that self proclaimed rock star. The boy's constant reassuring that his father didn't mean it in a bad way didn't help.

Only the thought of never having to deal with the puppet and the monkey ever again eased the mind of the former Myotismon.

* * *

Hinata occasionally threw a few glances at his partner while quietly packed his suitcase. He didn't like seeing his friend in such a sour mood. Granted, Demidevimon wasn't a ray of sunshine to begin with but most of the time he was in a neutral mood, never displaying many emotions.

Once he had packed his basic garments, Hinata turned towards the digimon.

"Does the digi-world have a weather forecast?"

"No, the climate zones usually stay the same but the weather itself is unpredictable. Where does your sudden interest in meteorology come from?"

"Grandfather has a computer with an internet connection."

A comfy anorak and a warm scarf were placed inside the suitcase, luckily none of those were in a gaudy shade of yellow. Then Hinata cleaned up the mess he made earlier, thanks to Demidevimon's advice whispered in a low voice, his room was even more organized than earlier. Sadly, Mr. Sato didn't seem to notice any difference when I came in to remind his son to hurry up. Instead he pointed out that there was still dust all over the room.

"I don't get his problem", the boy told his partner once his father left. "I'll be gone for three weeks, so the room will be back to dusty anyway."

* * *

Mr. Sato watched with a certain disbelief how his youngest son carefully put a seat belt over the doll.

"Hinata, you outgrew that phase years ago. Behave according to your age."

"But father", said boy proceeded. "I just want to make sure he stays safe during the drive. I don't want to-"

"Break it any further, fine. It's a loaned item after all."

For a split second, while he fixed the inside mirror, Mr. Sato could have sworn that the doll shot daggers at him.

Despite the rocky start, the drive itself was uneventful. The car had sunshades, a welcome addition during a hot and sunny summer day. After a while Demidevimon drifted to sleep, even though the overly cheery songs played by the radio made it difficult. Secretly he promised himself to spent Christmas in the digi-world, three years in a row of living through this period in the human world had left his mark on the dark king. If he had known a laboratory from all work places would blast upbeat Christmas tunes to lift the employees' spirits up, he would have reconsidered possessing Oikawa.

At least that man hadn't try to hum alongside the tune. On the other hand, the boy sounded better than the Bakemon's musical attempts.

Granted, they hadn't set the bar very high.

* * *

The sun was setting when they arrived, turning the sky glow into a bright shade of pink. Demidevimon was woken up a second time today, this time it was by a strong wind blowing through the car. It brought the smell of the nearby sea and the sound of waves with it.

The two car windows on the front side were open, allowing fresh air to stream in. Hinata quickly noticed that his partner has woken up.

"We're almost there", he stated in matter of fact voice. Then he added: "Grandma will sure hug me as usual."

Demidevimon shuddered a little at the thought of being caught by a hugging grandmother. All he associated with this word was Babamon and her hugs even made the likes of Metalgreymon shudder in fear. The likes of Myotismon carefully avoided crossing paths with her for strategic reasons.

Hinata giggled a little, his partners reaction hadn't escaped him. Only then Demidevimon realized that the boy had mentioned his grandmother's habits for a specific reason. He had wanted to check to what degree Demidevimon could tolerate hugs.

Maybe he was a faster learner than it seemed on the first glance.

* * *

The car became slower and turned into a side street, then the car windows went back up. The vehicle finally stopped in the front yard of a two story house.

Hinata burst out of as soon as his father took out the keys, not even closing the car door behind him. He ran straight towards an elderly woman who proceeded to give him a strong hug.

"My dear boy, you've grown so much", she told him in a sweet voice. Obviously, she was the previously mentioned grandmother, judging from the strong resemblance with Hinata she was from his maternal side.

A matching elderly man arrived next at the front porch and had some standard small talk with Hinata's father about holiday traffic getting worse every year, fiscal politics and his neighbours' prized tomato plants. Then they had a hushed discussion, standing close to each other and Demidevimon couldn't understand a single word. The fiscal politics had actually caught his interest.

Finally, the obligatory greeting ritual was over and the luggage was moved into the house. That word also included Demidevimon by extension and he was the last moved in.

* * *

The boy did not rush inside the house, to the surprise of Demidevimon. Instead, he walked slowly and tightened his grip around his digimon partner. He stopped inside the doorframe of the living room, not before knocking twice against the wood.

Hinata's mother didn't turn around, her back was turn towards the door and she was fussing over another boy. The other kid, Devidevimon now suddenly remembered him from the photographs he had discovered, however did notice the new visitor. The older brother was smaller than the digimon thought, being three years older after all.

"Evening, Hinata", he said while standing up and making his way towards his younger brother.

"Hello, Akio", Hinata answered, almost robotic.

"Ah, you're here", his mother now finally noticed him. She sounded tired.

"That's some interesting doll you've got there, may I?", Akio asked and tried to grab Demidevimon.

"No!", Hinata almost yelled sharply. Everybody in the room was taken a back, including the boy himself. Demidevimon could even feel the outburst through their mental link. The outburst was a mix of the fear of being caught and disappointment of being ignored.

"Hinata, be nice towards your brother!", his mother scolded him immediately. "You haven't seen each other in months."

"Sorry, it's just", the younger boy started fidgeting. "His claws are really sharp even though they look dull."

"Fine, I'll pay attention", his older brother stated, not having moved his eyes from Demidevimon's even once. Carefully he picked the digimon up and turned him around for a while. Then he put him back into his brother's arms.

* * *

Akio knew, Demidevimon was certain.

The older boy knew he was living being even before he touched him and could feel him breathing under his hands. After all, no one would look deep into the eyes of a toy. The eyes are the mirror of the soul and for a second, Demidevimon wondered what people saw in his eyes.

In Akio's eyes, he had seen a similar sorrow as in Hinata's eyes. He had seen that the older boy was sick in the rest of his body.

* * *

Demidevimon spend the next few hours in Hinata's guest room. The boy's grandfather unfortunately had chosen to place his computer in the living room, meaning they had to wait until everybody was asleep in order to use it.

Around 11 pm, Demidevimon woke his partner up by poking him with his claws. After a short hushed argument, Hinata agreed to change back into his day clothes and they sneaked towards the computer. At least Hinata sneaked, Demidevimon just flew behind him.

"That's your surprise? ", the boy whispered as the picture of the castle appeared on the screen. "It looks awesome."

"Wait until you see my realm in person."

With that, Hinata pointed his digivice towards the gate, shaking with excitement.

* * *

"This is magnificent!"

Hinata shouted from the tops of his lungs, having managed to keep his balance for once. The castle has turned out to be at least twice as big as he estimated.

"Magnificent? Now, that's an expression I can agree with", Demidevimon said after changing into his champion form. He offered his partner his claw so he could climb on him before soaring up into the night sky.

"We're currently on the Server Continent, there's a vast desert behind the forest", Devidramon explained the view. The more he described, the happier the boy grew. "Usually this castle is rather secluded but lately I had few digimon visiting."

"Other digimon are living here?"

"Indeed, in fact I have a flock of Bakemon serving me. I shall introduce them to you."

Devidramon landed in the courtyard, almost blowing away a sleepy Bakemon on guard duty. At least the spear and the helmet were properly polished for once, proofing that Bakemon were sometimes capable of learning if they wanted.

"Gather, my servants. There is a certain person I want you to meet", he howled over the courtyard and within a minute, every Bakemon had arrived. He realised Hinata from his claw and gently pushed him towards the ghosts as the boy was too busy staring at them bewildered to move on his own.

"This is my human partner. You will serve him as you serve me."

Suddenly Hinata bowed in front of the Bakemon.

"My name is Hinata Sato and I am pleased to make your acquaintance."


End file.
